Odd how JavaScript (both browser & server side) has been praised, then demonized, now back as the favorite child once again in the cloud world.

Having JavaScript running on both the client and server (Node.js) makes total sense so that programmers don't have to learn multiple programming languages. Sad that the syntax of JavaScript is
so sucky and that's what they picked to run the IoT. Sigh.

It sure would be nice if the front end and back end of everything was written the same but sadly that will probably never happen with the sheer volume of legacy code out there.

I'd love to see PHP fall by the wayside, it's total crap.

The thing that blows my mind about this announcement:
1. MS has a bunch of their own languages and even MS is building on JavaScript?
2. MS has built what they consider the fastest JS engine around and put it out in OPEN SOURCE?
3. That MS is seemingly moving more towards internet standards like JS, github, etc. instead of their own stuff?

Take this to the next logical conclusion:

Are they considering moving to Linux for their OS core and just put Windows, the Windows UI part only, as a big windowing shell on top of Linux?

That would explain why they've said Windows 10 is the last "Windows" as we know it.

This would be HUGE for businesses that have Linux online and Windows in the office as the dual OS problem would suddenly vanish along with all the problems that it causes.

However, everyone that has the current Windows Servers and IIS web servers would be totally screwed as their investment in all that technology would go >POOF!< right out the window(s). :)

Now that I've pondered out loud, I wonder what's really coming in the next 10 years from Redmond as I think it could be shocking to us old-timers that started with BASIC-80, MSDOS 3.x and Windows 2.x as we've been drinking the MS Kool-aid for a very long time. To see this kind of a shift in MS's overall strategy and messaging could mean something really significant coming soon.

Are they considering moving to Linux for their OS core and just put Windows, the Windows UI part only, as a big windowing shell on top of Linux?

Windows 10 is extremely Linux like already -- quite a bit of Open Source already under the hood me thinks, with more to come.
Windows is still pretty clunky tho' when you put it up against a genuine Linux build, but I'm sure Microsoft is heading in the general Open Source direction.

Programmers should learn multiple languages, it makes them better programmers.

I also wonder what license MS will use - will it be real open source? IE can it be forked, mixed with existing open source code, ported to other OSes etc.

Windows 10 is extremely Linux like already -- quite a bit of Open Source already under the hood me thinks, with more to come.

I did not know that. Can you expand on what Open Source they are using.

To see this kind of a shift in MS's overall strategy and messaging could mean something really significant coming soon.

Er... what I have been saying for years:

The PC broke IT's back way back when in 1980-ish (3 in particular). Ever since that genie was let out of the bottle they (IBM, MS, etc) have been trying to stuff it back in the bottle. Why? Can't bill by the month.

Old time Big Iron sold Accounts on centrally owned (and serviced) servers connected to dumb terminals. This is where it all is headed: Back To The Barn, so to speak. Git along little dogies. And pay your feed bill. Monthly, by department or personal access.

Note the changes to Win 10 (and it's reporting capabilities) and the push for One Drive (their servers) for Your Stuff, ostensibly so you can access Your Stuff from Any Device (PC, Phone, Tablet, Lap or IoT).

Nothing magical here, kiddies. The Corporations just want to get you all back into the fold. :)

ISP's have been doing this for years (biggest in any local area) and the computer/os guys want to get in on the game, again, that captive audience they can bill...

Monthly.

Win 7 hold outs are promised at least 2020 before that goes dead (but we all know how those kind of promises work), and Linix as an alternative is still there, for now.

Not doom and gloom, not even conspiracy theory, just one man's opinion, based largely on fact and near 40 years in this biz.

Chuckles!

@tangor, agree entirely. The cloud is back to mainframe, but more so because its for consumer services as well.

"He who holds stuff has hand in wallet."
... Corny Fused joke just make up.

But to bring this back hard on topic: coders for browsers, open or not, seek that consolidation of users to a single. Heck, even we webmasters seek that as well: get all those visitors to be repeats because we have what they want.

My fear, in the on-going attempt to "collect everything" (B, G, MS in OS, whoever) is that what makes us unique becomes fodder for the bits and bytes guys.